The present invention relates to viral vectors which are (a) self-replicating; (b) capable of systemic infection in a host; (c) contain, or are capable of containing, nucleic acid sequences foreign to the native virus, which are transcribed or expressed in the host; and (d) stable, especially for the transcription and expression of foreign nucleic acid sequences.
Viruses are a unique class of infectious agents whose distinctive features are their simple organization and their mechanism of replication. In fact, a complete viral particle, or virion, may be regarded mainly as a block of genetic material (either DNA or RNA) capable of autonomous replication, surrounded by a protein coat and sometimes by an additional membranous envelope such as in the case of alpha viruses. The coat protects the virus from the environment and serves as a vehicle for transmission from one host cell to another.
Unlike cells, viruses do not grow in size and then divide, because they contain within their coats few (or none) of the biosynthetic enzymes and other machinery required for their replication. Rather, viruses multiply in cells by the synthesis of their separate components, followed by assembly. Thus, the viral nucleic acid, after shedding its coat, comes into contact with the appropriate cell machinery where it specifies the synthesis of proteins required for viral reproduction. The viral nucleic acid is then itself replicated through the use of both viral and cellular enzymes. The components of the viral coat are formed and the nucleic acid and coat components are finally assembled. With some viruses, replication is initiated by enzymes present in virions.
Viruses are subdivided into three main classes; animal viruses, plant viruses and bacterial viruses. Within each class, each virus is able to infect only certain species of cells. With animal and bacterial viruses, the host range is determined by the specificity of attachment to the cells which depends on properties of both the virion's coat and specific receptors on the cell surface. These limitations disappear when transfection occurs, i e., when infection is carried out by the naked viral nucleic acid, whose entry does not depend on virus-specific receptors.
A given virus may contain either DNA or RNA, which may be either single- or double-stranded. The portion of nucleic acid in a virion varies from about 1% to about 50%. The amount of genetic information per virion varies from about 3 kb to 300 kb per strand. The diversity of virus-specific proteins varies accordingly. Examples of double-stranded DNA containing viruses include, but are not limited to, Hepatitis 8 virus, papovaviruses such as polyoma and papilloma, adenovirus, poxviruses such as vaccinia, caulimoviruses such as Cauliflower mosaic virus (CaMV), Pseudomonas phage PMS2, Herpesvirus, Bacillus subtilin phage SP8, and the T bacteriophages. Representative viruses which are single-stranded DNA are the parvoviruses and the bacteriophages .phi.X174, f1 and M13. Reoviruses, cytoplasmic polyhedrosis virus of silkworm, rice dwarf virus and wound tumor virus are examples of double-stranded RNA viruses. Single-stranded RNA viruses include tobacco mosaic virus (TMV), turnip yellow mosaic virus (TYMV) picornaviruses, myxoviruses, paramyxoviruses and rhabdoviruses. The RNA in single-stranded RNA viruses may be either a plus or a minus strand. For general information concerning viruses see Grierson, D. et al., Plant Molecular Biology, Blackie, London, pp. 126-146 (1984); Gluzman, Y. et al., Communications in Molecular Biology: Viral Vectors, Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, New York, pp. 172-189 (1988).
One means for classifying viruses is based on its genomic organization. Although many viruses have RNA genomes, organization of genetic information differs between groups. For example, the genome of most monopartite plant RNA viruses is a single-stranded molecule of (+)-sense. There are at least 11 major groups of viruses belonging to this genome. An example of this type of virus is TMV. At least six major groups of plant RNA viruses have a bipartite genome. In these, the genome usually consists of two distinct (+)-sense single-stranded RNA molecules encapsidated in separate particles. Both RNAs are required for infectivity. Cowpea mosaic virus (CPMW) is one example of a bipartite plant virus. A third major group, containing at least six major types of plant viruses, is tripartite, with three (+)-sense single-stranded RNA molecules. Each strand is separately encapsidated, and all three are required for infectivity. An example of a tripartite plant virus is alfalfa mosaic virus (AMV). Many plant viruses also have smaller subgenomic mRNAs that are synthesized to amplify a specific gene product. One group of plant viruses having a single-stranded DNA genome are the geminiviruses, such as Cassava latent virus (CLV) and maize streak virus (MSV). Several plant viruses have been cloned to study their nucleic acid, in anticipation of their use as plant transformation vectors. Examples of viruses cloned include BMV, Ahlquist, P. and M. Janda, Mol. Cell Biol. 4:2876 (1984); TMV, Dawson W. O. et al. Proc. Nat. Acad. Sci. USA 83:1832 (1986); CaMV, Lebeurier, G. et al. Gene 12:139 (1980); and BGMV, Morinaga, T. et al. U.S. Pat. No. 4,855,237.
Techniques have been developed which are utilized to transform many species of organisms. Hosts which are capable of being transformed by these techniques include bacteria, yeast, fungus, animal cells and plant cells or tissue. Transformation is accomplished by using a vector which is self-replicating and which is compatible with the desired host. The vectors are generally based on either a plasmid or a virus. Foreign DNA is inserted into the vector, which is then used to transform the appropriate host. The transformed host is then identified by selection or screening. For further information concerning the transformation of these hosts, see Maniatis, T. et al., Molecular Cloning (1st Ed.) and Sambrook, J. et al. (2nd Ed.), Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, Cold Spring Harbor (1982, 1989); Molecular Cloning, D. M. Clover, Ed., IRL Press, Oxford (1985); Grierson, D. et al. Plant Molecular Biology, Blackie, London, pp. 126-146 (1984), and Methods in Enzymology, Vols. 68, 100, 101, 118 and 152-155 (1979, 1983, 1986 and 1987).
Viruses that have been shown to be useful for the transformation of plant hosts include CaV, TMV and BV. Transformation of plants using plant viruses is described in Morinaga, T. et al. U.S. Pat. No. 4,855,237 (BGV), EP-A 67,553 (TMV), Japanese Published Application No. 63-14693 (TMV), EPA 194,809 (BV), EPA 278,667 (BV), Brisson, N. et al., Methods in Enzymology 118:659 (1986) (CaV), and Guzman, Y. et al. Communications in Molecular Biology: Viral Vectors, Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, New York, pp. 172-189 (1988). Pseudovirus particles for use in expressing foreign DNA in many hosts, including plants, is described in WO 87/06261.
When the virus is a DNA virus, the constructions can be made to the virus itself. Alternatively, the virus can first be cloned into a bacterial plasmid for ease of constructing the desired viral vector with the foreign DNA. The virus can then be excised from the plasmid. If the virus is a DNA virus, a bacterial origin of replication can be attached to the viral DNA, which is then replicated by the bacteria. Transcription and translation of this DNA will produce the coat protein which will encapsidate the viral DNA. If the virus is an RNA virus, the virus is generally cloned as a cDNA and inserted into a plasmid. The plasmid is then used to make all of the constructions. The RNA virus is then produced by transcribing the viral sequence of the plasmid and translation of the viral genes to produce the coat protein(s) which encapsidate the viral RNA.
Construction of plant RNA viruses for the introduction and expression of non-viral foreign genes in plants is demonstrated by the above references as well as by Dawson, W. O. et al., Virology 172:286-292 (1989); Takamatsu, N. et al., EMBO J 6:307-311 (1987); French, R. et al., Science 231:1294-1297 (1986); and Takamatsu, N. et al., FEBS Letters 269:73-76 (1990). However, none of these viral vectors have been capable of systemic spread in the plant and expression of the non-viral foreign genes in the majority of the plant cells in the whole plant. Another disadvantage of many of the prior art viral vectors is that they are not stable for the maintenance of non-viral foreign genes. See, for example, Dawson, W. O. et al., Virology 172:285-292 (1989). Thus, despite all of this activity to develop viral vectors and viruses, a need still exists for a stable recombinant virus capable of systemic infection in the host and stable expression of the foreign genes.